Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Copycat

Portillo’s is a restaurant famous for hot dogs and Italian beef, but what you may not know is they serve a very popular chocolate cake. In fact, the Portillo’s chocolate cake is so well-loved there’s a copycat recipe for it.

The Portillo’s chocolate cake copycat is a ridiculously easy mayonnaise cake. It calls for Betty Crocker cake mix, eggs, water, and mayo and is frosted with canned Betty Crocker frosting. People who claim to have worked at Portillo’s say the recipe is fairly accurate, but that the chocolate cake mix is actually Gold Medal. Gold Medal and Betty Crocker are both General Mills brands, and since the Gold Medal cake mix seems to be more of a restaurant industry product (I’ve never seen Gold Medal cake mix in stores), the Betty Crocker cake mix is probably close. Of course I had to know, so I bought a slice of Portillo’s chocolate cake and made the copycat Portillo’s chocolate cake. First up was the real life Portillo’s Chocolate Cake.

The Portillo’s frosting did indeed taste like Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Chocolate. As a frosting lover who will eat it in just about any form, the lazy side of me was glad I didn’t have to try to duplicate it with a scratch clone. Of course you are welcome to do so (which should go without saying), but if you are going for a clone you might want to stick with Betty Crocker. Next, I tasted the crumb. It too had the texture of boxed mix, but lighter and softer and less sweet with less artificial taste. Since the cake is purported to have mayonnaise, I suspected the mayo was doing its job by adding moisture and masking any chemical flavors. Good job, mayo! Next up was the copycat cake made with Betty Crocker Devil’s Food.

Some of the clones state that you must use Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe Chocolate while others call for Betty Crocker Devil’s Food. I went to three stores and couldn’t find “Butter Recipe”, so I used Devil’s Food. The ingredient lists for those two flavors were identical, so I wasn’t too worried. However, if I see the butter recipe chocolate I’m going to have to make this again.

The frosting on the clone cake was almost exactly the same as Portillo’s, but the crumb was a little different. As you can tell by the picture the Portillo’s cake crumb was darker with bigger air bubbles. Maybe more liquid was used? Maybe they used a tad more mayonnaise? Or maybe it was just the cake mix itself. Despite the difference in appearance, the taste and texture of the two cakes were very similar, with the Betty Crocker being slightly sweeter. Either way, this is one I’ll make again when I’m in the mood for a boxed cake. I believe the original recipe is from Hellmann’s, since they have the same recipe on their site but call for any cake mix.

I made this today. The only thing I changed was I used 1 cup of ice cold coffee instead of water and it was fantastic! I made it in a bundt pan and heated up the can of frosting in the micro for 35 secs and drizzled it over the top. DELISH!

What if to compensate for the “butter recipe” cake mix, we add 1/4 of melted butter and only 2 3/4 cups of water? If anyone has tried it, let me know. I will try it the next time I make the cake. Thanks for the information!

Erika, just remember to take it at face value. It’s a box tasting cake, but a good box tasting cake. And that too is subjective. As for the frosting, I was convinced I’d have to make it from scratch, but the Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy matched up with the Portillo’s, so that’s what I used. Also, like most everyone, I like scratch frosting too. However, I’ve found that of all the canned ones, the Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy is not bad. But again — I grew up on canned frosting so while I’d prefer scratch, I’ll eat canned. My biggest concern in the past has been the trans fats, but it seems they quietly reformulated the frosting and it now says 0 per serving. Not saying that canned frosting is a super food, just that I believe they have been working to improve it.

We were at a Portillo’s for the first time a few weeks ago. Our meal was one of the best and we plan to go back for our next trip to the Chicago area. One thing we didn’t have was the chocolate cake because it seemed weird to me that a sausage and hot beef restaurant was selling chocolate cake! And THEN we saw it on one of the cooking channel shows- The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Someone was raving about the cake, and moreso, the milkshake made WITH the cake.

We’re headed to Schaumburg in three weeks and we’re going straight to Portillo’s for chocolate cake and milkshakes. Unless I make one first.

Did you actually use the canned frosting? I don’t mind doctored cake mix recipes, but the canned frosting seems like I’d be crossing a line… 🙂

Anna I made a Portillo’s clone for my husband’s birthday last year. We did a side-by-side comparison with a piece of Portillo’s cake and none of us could tell the difference. It’s a good box cake – my family raves about the Portillo’s cake & you can taste the “box” flavor when you eat it at the restaurant.That being said, I grew up with nothing but cakes made from mixes and I do like it:)

Wish I could LIKE chocolate but alas…..but seeing this post got me think’n have you ever come across the fresh bread that is available at some of the older locations?? I love that stuff and would like to make it but the locations close to me don’t have it 8(……….